MoonClan's ambitious story
I am happy you want to read this! I am not associated with Warrior Cats in any way, but I love to read them (and write my own versions, too) Prologue: Beginning of the Mountain Clans Ancestry The Mountain Clans' ancestry is mostly mountain lions. A few cats adventuring happened to meet these creatures, and made friends with them. The group consisted of tom-cats Flame, Wisdom, Sand, Flight, Falcon & Claw, and she-cats Bright, Amber, Flutter, Light & Horizon. They lived on the mountains for a couple of seasons before Bright happened to fall in love with one of them, Rock Slide. Rock Slide & Bright happened to have kits. The mountain lions started mixing with the cats pretty soon after that. All eleven cats never left the mountains before their death, and their descendants stayed as well. Soon, the pure-bred mountain lions were no more, also. Clan leaders 220 moons later, three cats, Moon, Adder & Snow all came together because of a prophecy. It was leaf-bare at the time, and cats started dying. The tribe thought of migrating, but a lot of cats were too ill to go on a journey out of the mountains. Moon was supposed to be the charmer of the prophecy. She was usually very calm, and would lead the group well if it seems to start falling apart. Adder was the fighter of the prophecy. He was pretty good at fighting & hunting, both verbally & physically, but he also liked to eat as well. Snow was the thinker of the prophecy. She was pretty intelligent, and knew where things go, and how to deal with problems very well. Then all three of them eventually got dreams of them being in Clans, and being organized after they got into Clans, and the group being saved from disaster. They went through some trouble, both between themselves and with the group, but after a long time, they managed to sort part of the group into Moon's Clan. All three of them changed their names to the leader names, as they became the leaders, and named the Clans after them, and tried to bring their Clans to new-leaf in a good condition. All three succeeded, and with the new organized system, the Mountain Clans managed to be saved. Clan troubles At some point, Adderstar got jealous at the size of MoonClan, and apparently Snowstar was, too. The two Clans partnered together to bring down MoonClan, and make it have a lower population, but Moonstar was the most faithful in StarClan, so StarClan urged the two leaders to stop. Snowstar realized that, too, and said that they couldn't. This made Adderstar angry, and made his Clan start fighting with her Clan. At one point, the fighting got so intense, some cats went over to MoonClan. Moonstar was welcome to them, and accepted them. Once again, Snowstar tried to agree with Adderstar about the idea, until a dead AdderClan warrior told her once again, and tried to tell his leader. Snowstar again said no, and Adderstar got even more angrier. Snowstar decided to make amends with Moonstar, and their Clans both joined together as a single force which nearly wiped out AdderClan. Almost all the AdderClan cats ran to either MoonClan or SnowClan. Adderstar seemed to learn his lesson, but he made an enemy of both Clans. MoonClan & SnowClan became allies. Later, Adderstar vowed to get revenge on both Clans. He had many mates, and trained all his children & Clanmates about bloodshed. Tons of battles seemed to wage out, but with SnowClan & MoonClan siding, they never won, but they murdered a lot of people. Aftermath 20 moons later, Snowstar died, and her great-niece, Briarfoot, became leader. But in her leadership, SnowClan wasn't that close to MoonClan anymore. Many seasons had passed with new leaders, but MoonClan & SnowClan no longer were allies, as they grew too far apart. However, AdderClan hadn't forgotten their enemies, and regularly attacked them and sent spies & fighting patrols out. Part 2: Little Birchkit's Life Chapter 1: Nursery Birchkit was in the nursery, watching kits play. He was only two and a half moons old at the time. He decided to go the elders' den and listen to some stories out of boredom. He saw his sister, Rainkit, already there. An elder, Wisdomheart, Moonstar's brother, saw him and signalled him to sit down. "Hey! You're also the son of my niece, Petuniaheart & her mate Snowpool! Come sit down," he said nicely, but in an old, cracked voice. Birchkit sighed. Being a grandchild of the great ''legend Moonstar, he had no choice but to acknowledge people that were paying a lot of attention to him because of his heritage. His mother, Petuniaheart, being Moonstar & Orangehill's daughter, made cats pay even more attention to her. But Wisdomheart was Moonstar's brother, so he got the same kind of attention. Wisdomheart told Birchkit a story about a time before there were Clans. He used to be called Wisdom, his sister Moon, and her mate Orange, and all that stuff. Then Moon met up with two cats, Adder & Snow, and made the Mountain Clans. Then they created rivalries upon themselves. They stayed away from each other. Birchkit thought about it. Moonstar was still the leader, but she had her first litter, which didn't even have his mother in it, at the age of forty moons. She had Petuniaheart and her brother at fifty moons. His mother had him & Rainkit as her third litter at the age of thirty-six moons. ''Basically, Moonstar is really old, ''concluded Birchkit's thoughts. ''No wonder she was a legend. Wisdomheart went on about their ancestry and such. Birchkit was interested, but suddenly, he felt hungry. He had never met his grandmother before personally. He mostly met her when she was always talking to someone else other than him. He wanted to meet her now. Birchkit took out a mouse and went to Moonstar's den. Moonstar was just sitting in her den. Nothing about her changed when he entered the den. "H-h-hello?" he stammered. Moonstar did a little smile. She said, "Petuniaheart's son, Birchkit." She then said his other surviving siblings names, Sealpaw, Hailpaw & Sandpaw, all she-cats (in the first litter), his brother, Quailkit (second litter), and Rainkit. Birchkit thought that Moonstar was crazy until she replied, "I'm naming you. I'm losing memory." Birchkit then realized she wanted to remember their names by saying them out loud. He just replied, "Ok, um, good-bye?" and left the den taking his mouse with him to a rock. He saw Quailkit there. He was much older than him and Rainkit, almost an apprentice. Quailkit was barely touching his snow hare, and seemed deep in thought. A Snowstar thing, Birchkit thought. Quailkit didn't even seem to notice him. He just prodded the hare. Birchkit then decided to speak to his brother. "Um, Quailkit, are you okay?" Birchkit asked him. Quailkit replied, "Yep, I'm all right," in a rather sarcastic tone. "Is something wrong? You don't seem-" Birchkit was saying, taking a bite out of his mouse, but Quailkit replied, "Nope, I'm totally fine!" Birchkit knew there was something wrong with him, but he decided not to care about it. Why does he have to care, anyway? He's only a young kit. He finished his mouse, and went to the training section. He saw Sealpaw training with her mentor, Blazesky, also their uncle. "Hey, Birchkit, you're not old enough to train yet," teased Sealpaw. "He can stay to watch," replied Blazesky. Birchkit went into a sitting position. Sealpaw seemed to be concentrating on their uncle's moves. Blazesky looked at her head, but aimed for the chest. Sealpaw toppled backwards, but immediately got up, and scratched his nose. Birchkit thought the fighting was intense, so when they paused for a bit, he asked, "Don't you get hurt?" Blazesky replied thoughtfully, "Not very hurt. Our claws are always sheathed during training so we don't hurt our apprentice or mentor. Safety is a big thing in Clans. But when Sealpaw falls down, she is expected to see this when she fights in real life. But honestly, falling down is a barrier to no cat, and shouldn't hurt you." Birchkit thought about it. He looked at his paws, wondering if that made sense. After their break, they continued. Sealpaw ran a few feet away from Blazesky, and he chased her. but when Blazesky caught up, she immediately whipped around and scratched him on the forehead. "Good method, because with claws unsheathed, that can make blood pour out and blind your attacker," he replied. Sealpaw looked proud of herself. But then he warned, "But be careful. He can immediately attack after you do, so always keep your reflexes & muscles active while fighting." Sealpaw nodded, heeding the warning, and they continued. Birchkit got a little bored of watching this, and decided to go to sleep. Chapter 2: Moonstar A half-moon later, Birchkit & Rainkit were three moons old. Birchkit felt especially light & joyous that day. He saw a quintet of kits playing Clan, and Rainkit & Quailkit were two of them. He asked if he can join in, and Shadowkit, a tom-kit, who was playing as leader said yes. Birchkit was supposed to be an apprentice and his mentor was Quailkit. The medicine cat was Rainkit, and she pretended to put some cobwebs on Shadowkit's invisible wound. Icekit, a she-kit, who was playing as Clan deputy, said to Shadowkit, "I saw a fox! It was huge! "Oh no" he said. "Quailkit, Icekit, Swankit (a she-kit) and Birchkit, you have to go fight it!" Birchkit realized Shadowkit & Icekit were littermates, and Swankit was younger than them, just their sister, about as young as him & Rainkit. Shadowkit & Icekit were about as old as Quailkit. Their mothers, Petuniaheart & Goldenlily, were watching them, and felt happy. There are a lot of kits in the nursery, ''he thought. The four of them ran off in one direction somewhere else in the nursery. "Who should be the fox?" asked Icekit. Birchkit spotted a kit in the corner, just watching them sadly. His mother, Flipsnow, was nudging him towards them, but he shrank back to his mother. Was he shy? Birchkit walked up to the kit, and asked, "What's your name? I'm Birchkit!" The kit was smaller than him, probably younger than him. "Mountainkit," he replied rather weakly. "Well, Mountainkit, do you want to play with us? We're playing Clan, and we need someone to play as a fox," Birchkit said. "Go on," said Flipsnow. "You shouldn't be very shy, since you're eventually going to be a warrior." Mountainkit looked between his mother & Birchkit, then finally walked up to them. Birchkit said, "I got someone to play as the fox," to the rest of the group. "Well, he's not huge, but I guess he can do it," said Icekit quietly. Mountainkit looked confused, but Birchkit told him what to do. Mountainkit obeyed. "There's the fox!" Icekit pointed to Mountainkit. He acted tough & strong, and walked haughtily. "We need to scare him off!" said Quailkit. Then the four of them seemed to surround Mountainkit, and he said silently, "You cats can't stop me..." "No, louder, like you're tough," said Birchkit. Mountainkit repeated, but more louder. Then they started playfighting. When they stopped, they were laughing. "Can I be a regular cat now?" asked Mountainkit. "Sure," Icekit said. "You can be my apprentice." They played for a while, until it was time for lunch. As usual, the kits, queens & elders ate first. "I'd like a hare," said Icekit. "I want some water," said Rainkit. Swankit didn't speak while going to the fresh-kill pile. In fact, Birchkit didn't recall her ever speaking. So he decided to talk to her. "Hey, Swankit," he said. She responded with a smile, but didn't say anything. "So um... did you like playing Clan with me and the others?" Birchkit said meekly. Swankit simply nodded. Birchkit picked out a hare & Swankit picked out a squirrel. She sat next to Quailkit on a small grassy patch. Birchkit also sat next to her. He remembered something was bothering Quailkit for a long time. He just touched his mouse again. Swankit didn't seem to notice, so he asked Quailkit something. "What's bothering you, anyway? And are you going to eat that mouse?" Birchkit asked. "Nothing for you to know, and yes," said Quailkit rather irritably. Swankit stared at Birchkit weirdly, as if he was weird for asking the question. "Why don't I need to know?" asked Birchkit a little angrily. Quailkit turned his head away from Birchkit to Swankit. Then she nodded, and Quailkit sighed. "Well, I don't see how you don't know this, the warriors were gossiping all this around, but maybe you were sleeping so much, but... well..." started Quailkit. Swankit nodded again. "Moonstar, you know... Our grandma? She's dying," he finished. Birchkit looked surprised. "Really? But how?" Swankit pretended to look ill, and cough a lot. That seemed to answer Birchkit's question. "See? Moonstar's awfully sick," said Quailkit. "Ok," said Birchkit. He felt a little uncomfortable listening to all this, so he quickly finished half his hare, and went to Wisdomheart, who was eating someplace else. Wisdomheart was eating a squirrel and sitting with his cousin named Pinetail. Then Birchkit asked, "Is Moonstar really dying?" They both looked distressed, then they both sadly nodded. "I have more questions," said Birchkit before they can stop talking. He asked why Swankit wasn't speaking. Pinetail told him that she was a mute, so she can't speak. He also asked if Goldenlily was related to anyone. Pinetail said Goldenlily was his daughter. He even asked about Mountainkit & Flipsnow. Wisdomheart said Flipsnow was his mate's brother's daughter. His mate's name was a kittypet named Queen, and her brother's name was Earl. Wisdomheart said that Flipsnow was originally named Felicia, but she was given to Wisdomheart's Clan and renamed Flippaw. He also mentioned she had a sister named Penelope renamed Peonypaw, later Peonyclaw, who mated with Blazesky and had kits who were as old as Quailkit right now. Birchkit thought this was really interesting, but it didn't matter to him very much. Birchkit asked one more question: Who was going to be the new leader & deputy if Moonstar died? He explained a cat named Falconblue would be the new leader, but it is unknown who he would choose as deputy. Birchkit went into the nursery, thinking about everything Wisdomheart, Pinetail, Quailkit & Swankit told him Moonstar's dying? From a sickness? Swankit cannot speak at all? Goldenlily was related to Moonstar, and also him? Flipsnow was that cat Earl's daughter, and so was Peonyclaw? And Peonyclaw was the name of his uncle's mate? He knew what she looked like, since she was his cousins' mother in the nursery, but he never knew her name. And it turns out she is also the sister of Flipsnow. He thought about Mountainkit ''They're cousins, too, ''he said silently. Zebrakit & Stonekit are both the same age a couple of moons older than him & Rainkit, but they're the sons of Blazesky & Peonyclaw. And Blazesky was his mother Petuniaheart's brother born in the same litter & Moonstar & Orangehill's son. He only asked his last question because he wondered if Falconblue was fit to be the leader of the Clan. ''I'm only a kit, he reminded himself. I don't need to know so much about this right now. He got so sleepy from thinking that he padded over to his moss bed, put some moss on his pelt (like he likes to do), and fell into a deep sleep. Chapter 3: AdderClan A quarter-moon later, Birchkit heard Moonstar announcing something in a raspy voice. Cats started crowding around Highrock. Birchkit stayed at the mouth of the nursery. Moonstar looked around to see if everyone was paying attention to her. Then she started. "To begin, I have some bad news. I only have one life left from my illness, and I am so close to losing this one, too. Since I am ready to join the ranks of StarClan, Lilypool, I request that you don't give me any more treatment. I am ready to die peacefully. I am glad to give leadership to Falconblue once I die. I hope he will be a great leader." She stopped to take a break then continued. "We have some new apprentices, too." Moonstar then gestured towards Quailkit. She said the ritual, and Quailpaw's mentor was Blazesky. Birchkit got confused for a moment. He thought Blazesky already had an apprentice, his sister Sealpaw. She also made Shadowkit & Icekit apprentices, too. Shadowpaw was apprenticed to Birchkit's father, Snowpool, and Icepaw to Forestcreek, Snowpool's brother. Then Moonstar did her smile and said, "We also need to welcome five new warriors." His three sisters, Sealpaw, Hailpaw and Sandpaw were included in this list. They became Sealbranch, Hailstream & Sandleaf. Two brothers (whom Birchkit didn't ever meet before), Nightpaw & Nutpaw became warriors. They were Nightnose & Nutclaw. All eight cats were congratulated for becoming apprentices and warriors. Birchkit then knew why Blazesky was given Quailpaw. Because Sealpaw became a warrior, now Sealbranch. Birchkit wondered when he'd become an apprentice. He was a teeny bit more than halfway there, but seeing his siblings being promoted made him want to grow up faster. Later ----- A few days later, Birchkit was pulled back into the nursery while he was carrying his mouse to a small dirt patch. So was his sister, Rainkit. All the kits were pulled back in by their mothers. Birchkit had no idea what was going on at all. Then he got told by his mother, "Stay here. I promise I will come back," and she went out. Goldenlily & Flipsnow told Swankit & Mountainkit to stay in the nursery, too, and left them very puzzled. Birchkit gestured towards them to come to him & Rainkit, and they relaxed a bit. But Birchkit still felt awfully confused like the others until Swankit gestured Birchkit to come to the mouth of the nursery. Rainkit & Mountainkit also went to the opening. They saw tons of cats fighting. Swankit turned her head towards Birchkit, and she had a very scared expression. What?! thought Birchkit quickly. They're fighting? Against whom? Then Sealbranch ran to the nursery, and seemed to look perplexed at four kits staring out the nursery watching their Clan fight unknown cats. Sealbranch said, "Hey, um, thought I'd check up on y'all kits..." "Will you tell us what's going on, sister? it's scary!" said Rainkit. ''If Swankit could speak, she'd probably stay silent like Mountainkit, ''thought Birchkit. Sealbranch filled them in. Apparently, Adderstar had died, but his nephew, Fangclaw, became the leader, and he had his uncle's bloody ways. He had sent a group of highly-trained warriors to murder the Clan. The newly-made apprentices, like Shadowpaw, Icepaw & Quailpaw, weren't going to fight, since they had almost no experience compared to the older apprentices, so they stayed in the apprentices den. The older apprentices has to help the warriors in battle though. The queens in the nursery who weren't expecting or nursing any kits were going to fight, too. But they'll not fight intensely, Sealbranch had said, probably only help the regular warriors fight. Sealbranch then had to run off to fight, too, and Birchkit felt lonely again. He knew MoonClan was the biggest Clan, but there weren't a lot of queens in the nursery left. There were only three, and one of them was nursing two very young kits, probably just recently born. Most of the other kits had fallen asleep due to either boredom, or sensitivity to their mothers not being there. The four kits were still awake, but scared. They kept watching out the nursery to see what was going on. To their horror, they saw Goldenlily pinned, and about to be bitten in the neck. But then, Snowpool leaped onto the AdderClan cat, and they rolled over in a tumble. Swankit was very shocked, but then she relaxed when she got saved by Birchkit's father. Birchkit bit his lip hard when he saw his father fight ferociously and intensely against the AdderClan warrior. Then Birchkit saw Falconblue fighting. But then his senses seemed to corrupt when he saw who he was fighting against. Petuniaheart. His mother. And Peonyclaw, too. "What? What's going on?" asked Rainkit confusingly, looking at Falconblue fighting against Petuniaheart & Peonyclaw. She had seen it, too. "One of them must be a traitor," suggested Mountainkit thoughtfully. Swankit nodded. In an hour or so, the fighting ceased, but Sealbranch came back with sad news. "Our deputy, Falconblue, has been siding with AdderClan all along. He murdered poor, frail Moonstar, hoping to become leader. We decided we wanted to send him off to AdderClan, but he refused, saying he'd stay and become leader for the Clan. But then, a ton of warriors got angry and killed him. He's gone now, but we're afraid he had told AdderClan, and we're without a leader or deputy!" The news was shocking for Birchkit. Moonstar was dead? Because of Falconblue? His head started to spin, and Rainkit, Mountainkit & Swankit looked just as shocked, surprised & very confused as he did.Category:AdderClan Category:MoonClan Category:SnowClan Category:Stories Category:Warrior Cats Category:Clans